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Alex Glenn – How To Launch an Agency-Focused Partner Program

Understand the nuances of agency partners…

Just like any successful relationship, software-agency partnerships, they must be built on equal benefits, trust, and communication. Yes, you have to give to get. But it’s not that simple…

But even if we look at marketing technology (a great segment for partnerships), we’re looking at over 7400! And they all need to grow or die. And agency relationships are a necessary factor in that growth for many of them.

The issue is, most software companies have the wrong interpretation of why an agency chooses to ‘partner’ with (align with, refer, resell, co-market, etc…) a particular software provider.

And just like relationships and blackjack, an agency taking the enormous risk of choosing to double-down on any software is only chosen for self-preservation.

Before we get into defining what actually incentivizes software-agency-partnerships, let me first clarify what it means for an agency to ‘double-down’ on any particular software:

• The agency is exclusive to one software per category/use case.
• The agency devotes resources to learning that software inside and out.
• The agency builds retainers around services with this software powering those.
• And, the agency will even provide you with invaluable product roadmap feedback…

This is what we at Partner Programs call an agency-software “Partnership”. And the result of having it can be the lion’s share of your revenue.